When we talk about the history of the Deep South USA, the spotlight so often falls on famous men, political leaders and musicians. But travelling through Mississippi and Louisiana, I quickly realised the real heartbeat of these communities has always been women. Women holding communities together through impossible circumstances. Women preserving culture, protecting stories, feeding families, challenging injustice and creating change long before society was ready to listen to them.
As a solo female traveller, these are always the stories I’m most drawn to. The stories hidden beneath the surface of “His-tory”. The women who defied expectations, risked their safety, challenged systems and built community against the odds. Some of the most powerful moments of my Deep South road trip came from hearing these stories directly from the women themselves.
Because in the Deep South, history isn't just within the pages of dusty books. It still lives and breathes through the people fighting to protect it. So let’s take a moment for a little Her-story – celebrating the iconic women of Mississippi and Louisiana whose bravery, resilience and cultural impact helped shape the South as we know it today. Don't forget to read my guide to Deep South USA Road Trip: Mississippi Blues Trail & Louisiana before you book a trip!
For those who are new here, I'm Lucy, a solo travel expert and adventure seeker who is passionate about giving women the tools (and the confidence) to try solo travel. I've travelled around the globe to 60+ countries and I pride myself in giving real, raw, honest advice to help you plan your dream trip, try exploring lesser-known destinations and weave in unique and authentic experiences to every itinerary.
This blog post is a press trip partnership with Visit USA, Deep South USA, Visit Mississippi and Explore Louisiana [AD] working alongside Visit Clarksdale, Visit Jackson, Visit Natchez, Lafayette Travel and New Orleans & Co, but I only ever share my honest reviews & travel experiences.
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Iconic Women of the Deep South USA? Here's where you'll find:
- Marie Laveau: The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans
- Madame Cinnamon Black: Protecting New Orleans Culture
- Queen Elizabeth Johnson: The 12-Year-Old Freedom Marcher
- Claire Collins Harvey: Building Community Through Womanpower
- Ida B. Wells: The Journalist Who Refused to Stay Silent
- Hazel Brannon Smith: The Woman Who Defied Mississippi Segregation
- Mrs. Z. L. Hill: Creating Safe Spaces During Segregation
- Dr. Cindy Ayers Elliott: Changing the Future of Mississippi
Iconic Women of the Deep South USA: The Women Who Shaped Mississippi & Louisiana
Travelling through Mississippi and Louisiana reminded me that the Deep South is far more layered, complex and culturally important than many outsiders realise. Yes, it’s a region shaped by painful history, but it’s also a region shaped by extraordinary resilience and community.
Women have always been at the centre of that story: from civil rights activists and journalists to spiritual leaders, farmers and cultural guardians, these women helped preserve traditions, challenge injustice and create spaces for future generations to thrive. Their stories deserve to be remembered, not as footnotes to history, but as history itself.
I highly recommend paying a visit to Mississippi's Two Museums: the Museum of Mississippi History and the Mississippi Civil Rights Museum to learn about these women and many more iconic stories that have helped to shape the Deep South USA as we know it today.
Marie Laveau: The Voodoo Queen of New Orleans
No woman looms larger over the mythology of New Orleans than Marie Laveau. Born in 1801 as a free woman of colour in a deeply segregated society, Marie Laveau became one of the most powerful and influential women in Louisiana history, despite living in a time when both her race and gender should have excluded her from power entirely.
Today, she’s remembered as the legendary Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, but reducing her story to ghost tours and spooky legends completely misses the reality of who she was. Marie Laveau was a healer, spiritual leader, herbalist, hairdresser and philanthropist deeply embedded in her community. Through her work as a hairdresser to wealthy white families, she gained access to information and influence in elite social circles while also supporting poor and marginalised communities across New Orleans.
Louisiana Voodoo itself emerged from a blend of West African spiritual traditions, Catholicism and Creole culture brought together through slavery, migration and survival. At a time when enslaved Africans were stripped of identity and autonomy, spiritual practices became acts of resistance, protection and community-building. And Marie Laveau became its most famous figure.
Her tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 remains one of the most visited graves in New Orleans today, while stories of her ghost supposedly roaming her cottage on St. Ann Street still circulate throughout the French Quarter. Whether you believe the legends or not, her cultural impact on New Orleans is undeniable.
Visit the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum to hear her life story – I recommend booking a tour and a physic reading while you're there also – these were some of my favourite things I did while in New Orleans.
Madame Cinnamon Black: Protecting New Orleans Culture
One of the greatest privileges of my trip was meeting Madame Cinnamon Black at the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum. And honestly? She completely captivated the room.
A Voodoo priestess, Mardi Gras Indian Queen for the Fi Yi Yi Warriors and leader of the Treme Million Dollar Baby Dolls, Madame Cinnamon Black embodies so many of the cultural traditions that make New Orleans unlike anywhere else in America.
To understand women like Madame Cinnamon Black, you have to understand how important women are to preserving cultural identity in New Orleans. Mardi Gras Indians, Baby Dolls and Voodoo traditions were all born from communities historically excluded from mainstream power structures, particularly Black communities creating spaces for celebration, resistance, creativity and spiritual connection.
The Baby Doll tradition itself dates back to the early 1900s when Black women created their own bold Mardi Gras identities in response to exclusion from white Carnival spaces. Dressing extravagantly and reclaiming public space became an act of freedom and defiance. Women like Madame Cinnamon Black continue protecting those traditions today, meeting her felt like meeting living cultural history.
Queen Elizabeth Johnson: The 12-Year-Old Freedom Marcher
Some stories stop you in your tracks. Meeting Queen Elizabeth Johnson in Jackson was one of those moments for me. She was just 12 years old when she secretly snuck out of her parents’ house to join civil rights marchers alongside Martin Luther King Jr. during the Meredith March Against Fear in Mississippi in 1966. A child.
Despite her age, she still chose courage. During the protests, she was tear-gassed by police while marching for Black voting rights and racial equality.
Listening to her describe those memories in person was incredibly emotional because it forces you to confront how young so many civil rights activists really were. These weren’t distant historical figures in textbooks, they were children, students, mothers and ordinary people risking their lives to demand basic human rights.
The Civil Rights Movement in Mississippi was especially dangerous during the 1950s and 60s. Activists faced arrests, violence, intimidation and even murder for attempting to register Black voters or challenge segregation laws.
Yet women were central to the movement at every level, often without receiving the recognition they deserved.
Claire Collins Harvey: Building Community Through Womanpower
While many civil rights leaders became nationally famous, countless women quietly sustained the movement behind the scenes. Claire Collins Harvey was one of them. After the Freedom Riders arrived in Jackson in 1961 to challenge segregated interstate travel, many were arrested and imprisoned in Mississippi’s notorious Parchman Penitentiary.
Claire Collins Harvey responded by founding Womanpower Unlimited, an organisation initially created to support imprisoned Freedom Riders and their families with food, bedding, books and clothing, but it quickly grew into something much bigger.
At its height, Womanpower Unlimited became an interracial network of more than 300 women supporting voter registration campaigns, civil rights activism and anti-segregation boycotts throughout Mississippi. I think stories like hers are so important because they remind us that social movements aren’t sustained by famous speeches alone.
They survive because communities, especially women, do the invisible work behind the scenes.
Ida B. Wells: The Journalist Who Refused to Stay Silent
Long before the Civil Rights Movement reached national attention, Ida B. Wells was risking her life to expose racial violence across the American South. Born into slavery in Mississippi in 1862, she became one of America’s first investigative journalists and one of the leading voices in both the anti-lynching movement and women’s suffrage movement.
In 1884, decades before Rosa Parks, Ida B. Wells was forcibly removed from a train after refusing to give up her seat in a segregated railway carriage. Rather than staying silent, she fought back through journalism. At enormous personal risk, she documented lynchings across the South and exposed how false accusations against Black men were being used to justify racial terror after Reconstruction.
Her newspaper offices were destroyed by white mobs because of her reporting, but she refused to stop writing.
As a journalist myself, standing in Mississippi and reflecting on women like Ida B. Wells honestly felt incredibly powerful. She understood something important: storytelling can threaten power structures. That's exactly why stories are so powerful, and storytelling is such an important tradition across cultures and generations.
Hazel Brannon Smith: The Woman Who Defied Mississippi Segregation
Another woman whose story fascinated me was Hazel Brannon Smith. A white newspaper editor in Mississippi during the Civil Rights era, Hazel used her platform to openly criticise segregation, racial violence and the intimidation tactics used against civil rights activists, despite enormous pressure to stay silent.
She condemned the racist tactics of the White Citizens’ Council and criticised violent police responses to protests. For that bravery, she paid a devastating price. Advertisers boycotted her newspapers. Her office in Jackson was bombed. Eventually, the financial pressure forced her into bankruptcy.
Yet she never backed down. In 1964, Hazel Brannon Smith became the first woman in the United States to win the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. Her story feels especially important now in an era where independent journalism and truth-telling continue facing pressure around the world.
Mrs. Z. L. Hill: Creating Safe Spaces During Segregation
In Clarksdale, one woman’s determination helped create a lifeline for Black communities during segregation. Mrs. Z. L. Hill founded the Clarksdale Colored Hospital in 1944 because Black residents were routinely denied equal access to healthcare under Jim Crow segregation laws.
At a time when many hospitals either excluded Black patients entirely or offered unequal treatment, her hospital became a vital safe haven for African American communities across the Mississippi Delta.
The hospital later became historically significant as the place where legendary blues singer Bessie Smith died following a car accident in 1937. Today, the building lives on as the historic Riverside Hotel, still deeply connected to the history of blues music and Black resilience in the Delta.
Dr. Cindy Ayers Elliott: Changing the Future of Mississippi
Not all icons belong to history books, some are actively changing their communities right now. Meeting Dr Cindy Ayers Elliott at the Mississippi Farmers Market was one of the most inspiring experiences of my trip.
A former sorority girl and investment banker turned urban farming pioneer, Dr Cindy now leads Foot Print Farms – a 68-acre urban farming initiative focused on food education, sustainability, health and community empowerment in Jackson.
Through farming, education programmes and community outreach, she’s helping reconnect young people with food systems while tackling issues surrounding nutrition and food access. Women like Dr Cindy represent exactly why I love travelling. Because beyond the headlines and stereotypes, there are extraordinary people quietly transforming their communities every single day.
You catch watch this video to find out more about Cindy's work.
This blog is barely scratching the surface of the incredible female stories across the Deep South USA, but I hope it has helped to give you a taste of the untold tales of power and resistance across this region. I know there are so many more amazing women out there that deserve to be celebrated.
